Refrigerated package with permeable insulation and method



Nav., E2, @2Q .,s. w; MAR-HN, JR

REFRIGERATED PACKAGE WITH PERMEABLE INSULATIONvAND MET Original Filed Aprilv 2, 3,927

wk, m m A M Patented Nov, 12j, 1929l .Unirse stares PATENT l, Orifice- JAMES W. MARTIN, JR., OE YoNxEas, NEW

DELAWARE YORK, AssIGNoa, BY vMESNE ASSIGNMENTS, To' DEYICE EQUIPMENT CORPORATION,

OE NEW YORK, N. 'ma cOROaA'rION or EErnreEnaTEn PACKAGE wr'rn PERNEABLE nersnaa'r-ION Nn METHOD vApplication ed April 2, 1,927,.Serila1 Re. 180,410. Renewed April 12,1929.

My lpresent invention is related to that of Ser. No; 180,411, of even date,'in that it conc cerns .improvements relating to the use of v.frozen carbon dioxide enclosed in a package with' perishable products of types not injured by over-freezing. The package may be used for ordinary storage or. for transportation of the goods as, for instance, in Slate Patent N O.

1,595,436', granted August 10th, 1926, but my present invention concerns more'particularly the embodiment in a package for such pur# l poses', of principles of insulation and control of sublimating of the frozen carbon dioxide, by control of iiow of the gaseous product in ways specifically different from those of said patent and from those of said application.

In the present case, the frozen carbon di-` oxide is usually in the form of dense, highly compressed blocks which, as is well known, do` not melt to a liquid under atmospheric conditions, but sublimatev directly4 tocarbon fdioxide gas. The freezingtemperatureof the carbon dioxide is'appro'ximately 114 F.

- below zero, but the effective temperature of the gas sublimating from thesolid, 'under atmospheric conditions, is higher, say 85 bel low, zero. Because the carbon dioxide mole'- cule (CO2) is intrinsically much heavier than either .the Oxygen or nitrogen constituent of the air and because of its very lowtempera, ture', the gas thus evolved is almost twice as heavy as airat ordinary refrigerator temperatures. Consequently, the gas readily dis" places air, tends to remain in the bottom Of'a -*receptacle and will diffuse but slowly. My

presentmethOd utilizes these characteristics. Because of its `great molecular weight and be;

"cause it is perfectly anhydrous, the gaseous tainer, preferably of metal, preferably Vwith product is a phenomenally good insulator.

In the present case, the perishablevv product is preferablyenclosedln a water-.tight conthe frozen' carbon dioxide in direct contact with the-metal. The perishable product andA the frozen carbon ,dioxide are enclosed; to-

g gethcr in a bag-'the upper end or moutligof pathv for escape ofthe gas.

Which is not sealed and so As in my prior application, where a bag is used, the freshly evolved gas will flow downl the perishable product within the bag,

' bines analogous functions in itself.

like quilted between the carbon dioxide affords a possible' ward in .the bagaround the container, displacingair and Warmer gas upward, thus refrigerating the perishable product and filling the inter-spaces 'within the bag with effecn tively insulating gas.

vThe nature of the bag used `andthe principles involved in the present case differ radically from thoSe of said prior application. In said application, the bag isof pa er, the. thin walls affording almost negligib e insulation, the .insulation intha't case beinfy effected by control of the flow oli?v gas first acbleut t en outside the bag by a'4 specially for outer container. In the present case, thebag lcgomaas suitable for my purpose are obtainable the market,`co`ns`1sting fof inner and outer layers of canvas, `rwithf lt, hair, wool orthe ayers to a very sub:

stantial thickness. 'Ifhe canvas iteslf is more or.less1waterproof,lbut it isnot gas proof.

AThe perishable product, as for instance, ice

tailer, but myiinvention-includes enclosing in the bag with, the ice cream container, a quantity offrozen c'arbon dioxide for the p'urposeof evolving within the-'ba' durin the ]Ourney,a continuous supply of ry, co1 85 v as. In practice, it' will be found that the ap. closure for the mouth of Y f the bag tits tight enough so that much, if not al1of the car ond-io'xide gas will be forced v through the canvas, into-theV hair or felt. A', continuous ooze .of the gasnot only displacesvthe air, replacingl it with highly 1n- 'sulating gas', but it malntains a lcontinuous Outward flow ata rate, which` for anyone" point-inthe bag'is extremely slow, yet is s uf- 95 i. cientto act as a convectiony current ,carrymo' .the heat outward as distln'guished from, `an

in addition to,v serving as dead insulation Opposin heat conductlon.` c,

, The a Ove and other features Of -my mven- 19 tion will more evident from the follow `ing descri tion in connectionl with the accom- .panying awings, in which Fig. 1 is an elevation partly; in perspective of a bag with the mouth flaps o en;

lig. 2 is a top planvi'ew oft e bag closed; an n Fig. 3. is a vertical section on the line 3--3, Fig. 2. v v

In" these drawings. the bag isshown as made of hair felt, 1,protected by an outer layer of fabric7 2, and an inner layer of fabric, 3, preferably fabric. is preferably canvas which, under ordinary conditions of use, isA 4practically waterproof, but under conditions of use in accordance with my present invention, it is not gas-tight. I hair.. felt as the insulating material to' be uilted between the canvas covers, it is evient -that wool or anyfother.desiredheat in..

' sulating material, particularlysuch as afford air interspaces, may be employed.

The bag is shown as approximately cylindrical and the mouth thereof. is" formed with fla-gs 5, 5 and 6, 6, preferablyrectangular` an as shown. Adjacent edges of adjacent flaps are referably connected by webs 7,7, 7, 7, pre erably a single layer of canvasin order to facilitate flexing on closure of the bag. The bagis closed by folding over opposite iaps, as 6, 6, and then, over them, fiaps 5, 5, as shown in Fig. 3. The outer pair of aps as 5, 5, are provided with securing means as, for instance, astrap-with buckle 8 on one flap and a strap, 9, on the other liap to engage with the buckle.

. The perishable product `t0 be shipped in the bag as, for instancefrozen or superfrozen ice cream 10, may be enclosed in a container 11, provided with a suitable cover, 12. the case of relatively large shipments as, for instance, 5 gallons or more of ice cream, for

in opposite pairs,

which mylinvention is particularly adapted,

the container, 11, is preferably of metal and may be either heavy metal such as would be returned to the shipper for re-use, or it may be a. cheaper, throw-away metal container such as is sometimes used for such purposes. Cakes of carbon dioxidelice 13, 13 are placed on the cover 12 of the container and are held in position bythe folded liap, as indicated in Fig. 3. As shown', the cakes are cubes, but

when these are molded from carbon dioxide snow in a hydraulic. press, it is entirely practical to make a single cylindrical cake adapted to fit the cover. It will be understood that a single cake will last longer, whereas the subdivided cakes will melt faster oni account of their greater surface area per unit volume.

The heavy carbon 'dioxide gas evaporating fromq the ice cake or cakes 13, naturally tends air upward and thereafter displacing thev warmer carbon dioxide gas which, it will be l understood, is

quilted or stitched as at 4. The j While Ik prefer good Aquality moisture.

lvalues of the ice. In

j warmer only by comparison with the fresh gas, both being in fact intenselycold. Thus the refrigerative values'of the refrigerant are 11 and its contents thus conserving and up refrigerativel values in the' mass of the ice to over-freeze the latter,

cream, against a possible time of need. The' gas also affords extremel effective gaseous insulation for both the car on dioxide ice and the container. All air being displaced, the

ice is protected from sublimating because the first applied' to the container so as to speak, storing partial pressure of the carbon dioxide.V gas atmosphere 1n contact with it, is so much greater than thatof air. The sublimating point is correspondingly lowered.

The freshly evolved carbon dioxide gas is perfectly dr.

onsequently, it has a remarkable drying effect Consequently, although the canvasmay lbe on the inner layer-.of canvas.`

and has a great-affinity for substantially waterproof `under ordinary ,j

atmospheric conditions, it is soon .driedperfectlyand becomes suiiiciently permeable to. 'j 9o permit oozing out of the gas i through the canvas lining into the felt or hair'andl to the outer canvas cover. The great weight ofthe -cold carbon-dioxide as, atmosphere, plus suc back pressure as may be applied by the tightly folded flaps, insures.

penetration and oozing out of the' gas into nearly twice that of the lhair and felt withthe above described v drying effect on the latter, witliinja relatively short time. terial of the bag is alone sufficient to greatly increase its insulating quality and employ ment of even a small quantity of frozen carbon dioxide, for this purpose alone would be justified, even disregarding the refrigerative As a matter of fact, however, I prefer 'to employ substantial lamounts of the frozen carhon dioxide and to have it in the highly compressed or ice form so that under the conditions of use, and with the ice cream properly frozen,

preferably super-frozen, before packing in the bag,

more.

From the above, it will be seen that as a result of my invention, the insulating quality of the bag is greatly increased both by complete drying of the materials of the bag, by the substitution of a heavy inner gas for relatively light air and bythe continuous oozing of the gas operating to keep the interspaces perfectly dry and by its outward'ooze to carry outside of the bag the inleaking heat. In addition to the above important insulating effects, substantial amounts of frozen carbon dioxide can be used for its refrigerating uch perfect drying of the ma-y the frozencarbon dioxide v will last for a journey of 24 to 36 hours' or .effect it beiner nearl tw'c th ht toflow downwardm the bag, displacing the. i D y 1de e welg of the refrigerative effect per unit wei ht.

Thus, for a given space taken up in the ag by: yfrozen carbon dioxide, four times .the refrigerative result fromthe same spacelled with water` value that would icev cakes, supposing thatj'water ice could be used;y Obviously, it cannot be used, because the water ice melts to a liquid, whereas'the carbon dioxide ice sublimates directly to anhydrous gas, as above explained.

l/Vhile the container ll can be made of cheap throw-away material, even for con? folded in small compass so that 'the return transportation charge-will be small.

As in the priorfpatent to Slate referred to l above, the expressions solid carbon'dioxide,

frozen carbon dioxide, etc., avrelused yas shorthand description :of a solidified mass of 'an inert substance which at' ordinary temv peratures is a. gas heavier than air and which change the meltingl point,- etc."-

' closed, with the latter nearest the mouthof,

bag injcli'iding.vv

- a thickness on absorption of heat passes-directly vfrom the solid to the gaseous state.,l Hence it vwill be understood. that such expressions as used in the appended claims are' intended to include equivalent solid substances as, for in stance7 frozen carbon dioxidewith 7small admixtures of other material that may be pres# ent either as impnrities or'wbich have been. incorporatedv for special purposes as, for in-f stance, to facilitate the formation of 'cakes 'from snow; or to increase the'strength or iincakes' or' to U i Y cludinga thicknessof insulating 4'material prove the appearance of tli'e Iclaim: 1. A refrigerated package including a per-` l t t t b -fr [Shah e Produc' adap ed o e over ozen bon dioxide for the-purpose described.

a' container enclosing said product, solidified b d' 'd db 'fh'h- 'dc Car on' 10x1 e an a ag m W 1c Sal on .ishable product adapted to be-.over-frozen,

tainer and frozen carbon dioxide are en-y the bag, the material Off the fibrous quality affording'interspacesdesigned I y ined-carbon dioxideand a bag in which said lcontainer and-frozen carbon dioxide are en-4 0 closed,witli the latter nearest the mouth ing a thickness of insulating material ofi loose fibrous quality affordingintersp'aes" f l to permit transverseoozin'githrongh ofgasf; liberatedwithin the bag.. 2L A-refrigerated package'iiicluding a perishable'lproduct adapted to be over-frozen, Va container enclosing said product, solidf ofthe bag, the 'material of the bag includf V designed to permit transverse oozing through of 'gas liberated within the'bagand an outer fabric protecting said layer.

'I :attain nearly.

closed, with the latter nearest the mouth of .carbon dioxideand a. bag inv which said container and frozen' carbon dioxide are enide for the purpose described..

- 6. A refrigerated fcarbon: dioxide and a flexible-'casing iii'w'hich `said container and 4 frozencarbon dioxide -arefenclosed, the material of thecasi'ngin of relativel V3. A refri' erated package including a perishable` prouct adapted to be .over-frozen, a container enclosing said product, solidified -carbon dioxide and a bag inwhich said container andy frozenr carbon dioxidel Iare en'- the bag, the material. of the bag including` a thickness'of permeable insulating material affording interspacesJ designed to permit transverse ooziii through of gas liberated within the bag. f 4L 'Arefri erated' package including a perishable prouct adapted to be over-frozen, a container enclosingv said product, solidified closed, Witiiathe-.latte'r nearestthe mouth of the bag, the material ofl the bag including y a thickness of hair felt, so that said material is accessible to and permits oozing through of gas evolved from the. frozen carbon diox- 5. A refrigerat d package including a peryisliableproduct adapted to be over-frozen,

a vcontainer enclosing said product, solidified 90' ca rbon dioxide and a bag in which said cony ,f tainer and frozen carbon dioxide are enclosed,

with the latter nearest the mouth of the .l I.

bag, .the material of the bag including a thickness of hair feltl between and protected by inner and Vouter sheets of fabric, so that said material is' accessible to and permits oo'zcarbon dioxide for the purposedescribedi ling'tliroughof gasevolved from the frozen. y' f i package including a p er- A lisli'ible product adapted to be o i'fer-froze'in' a container enclosing saidv V-roduct', solidified ycarbon dioxide and a iiexibv e casing in which said-'container and frozen carbon dioxide are enclosed,` the materia-l` of the casingv in` 105 so that said mai and permits oozing from the frozen carof loose `fibrous quality, terialv is accessible .to-v through of gas evolved 7. A lrefrigerated package including'a peracontainerI enclosing said' product,V4 solidifiedV cluding `a 4jthickness of' ,insulating 'material' largel volume yiii'terspaces and l ing relativey passages, between and vprotected -byjinner v for the purpose described'.Lf` f a'coii'tainer enclosingsaid product, solidified? carbon dioxide-and a flexible easing in which 2- ioo Y f 013611,' fibrous structure .aiford.-'

terialisaccessible to. and,'permits- ,:ooziiig through of as evolved from the frozen lcarbondioxi e 8 JA refrigerated package including 'aper l'ishable product Vadapted to 'be v'over-.frozem a flexible flap closure,

lcludin'g a thickness of insulating material of relativel open fibrous structure affording relative y large volume interspaces and passages, and the casing being formed with l so that said material isaccessible to and permits oozing through of gas evolved from the frozen carbon dioxide for the purpose described.

` 4 carbon dioxide and a of relatively open fibrous `ing relatively large volume interspaces and f passages,=sa1d material being protected by y j .of gas evolved'ffrom n anouter layer of canvas-like fabric, the casing'-having-a vflexible flap closure adapted to fold, in face engagement to oppose outflow "of gas from the casing,so

i that said material is accessible to and permits oozingthrough the frozen carbon` dioxidefor the purpose' described.

10;.A refrigerated package including a i perishable product adapted to be overfrozen,

` carbon dioxide and a fiexib a container enclosing saidl roduct, solidified said container and frozen carbon dioxide are enclosed, the material of the casing in-` cluding 'a thickness of permeable insulating material between and protected by inner and outer sheets of fabric, the casing having a mouth closure formedand arranged to af-l ford substantialresistance to direct outfiow of gas through the mouth of the casing, thereby to promote direct oozing outward, through the material of the casing, of gas liberated therein.

11. A refrigerated package includ-ing a perishable product adapted to be over-frozen, a container enclosing said product, solidified carbon dioxide and a flexible casing in which said container and frozen carbon dioxide are enclosed, the material of the casing ining cluding-a thickness of insulating material of relatively open fibrous structure affordlng relatively large volume interspaces and vuct and frozen carbon e casing in which Ocarbon dioxide in a adapted to be over-frozen, and a felt and fabric bag in which said perishable prodsaid fabric and felt being easily permeable for oozing through yof gas-liberated within the bag. 14. A frozen carbon dioxide, a perishable 'productadapted to be over-frozen, and a container of flexible, permeable material in which said perishable product and frozen carbon provided with a flap closure with lateral connecting webs adapted, when folded, to oppose escape of gas from the container, said fiexible, permeable materialbeing of relatively. open fibrous structure to permit escape of said gas Vby oozing through the material'thereof, 'Y

15.` In amethod of refrigerating a perish 'able product adapted to be overfrozen, the steps of enclosing the product with frozen carbonfdi'oxide 1n al permeable container, generating carbon dioxide gas to create a pressure in said container, whereby said gas may permeate lsaid container, -and heat insulating said product by controlling the rate of permeation.

16. In a method of refrigerating a perishable product adapted to be overfrozen, the

enclosing the product with frozen permeable container, generating carbon dioxide gas to create a pressure in said container, whereby said gas may permeate said container, and constantly steps of maintaining an insulating layer of said generated gas adjacent said container.

refrigerated package, including dioxide are enclosed,

dioxide are enclosed, said container beingy Signed at New York city, in the county' of New York and State of New York, this 31st day of March, A. D. 1927.

. JAMES W. MARTIN, Jn.

passages, between and protected byinner and outer Asheets of fabric, the casin hava flexible flap closure with latera connecting webs adapted to fold in face engagement to oppose outflow of gas from the casmg.

12. A refrigerated shipping package, including' a perishable product adapted to be over-frozen, a vthrow-away metall container enclosing said product solidified carbon dioxide anda felt and 'fabric baar in which said product and frozen carbon dioxle areenclosed, said fabric and felt being easily permeable for oozing throughvof gas liberated within the ba .I

13. A refrigerated pac age, including 

